FAYETTEVILLE -- Daryl Macon knows there might be some tears along with the cheers when the Arkansas Razorbacks take on No. 14 Auburn tonight in Walton Arena.
Macon is among seven seniors for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville who will be honored with their family members in a pregame ceremony.
"I know I might cry knowing how much I love this state, how much I love the Razorbacks, knowing I'll never get to play in this arena again," said Macon, a guard from Little Rock. "It'll be hard to hold back tears."
Arkansas' six scholarship seniors playing their final home game in addition to Macon are guards Jaylen Barford and Anton Beard, and forwards Trey Thompson, Dustin Thomas and Arlando Cook. Senior walk-on guard J.T. Plummer also will be honored.
"It'll be a special night," Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said. "It'll be hard to think that this will be their last game to play at home. They've done a tremendous job since they've been here."
Beard and Thompson, who have been with Arkansas since their freshman season, have been on teams with a combined 89-44 record the past four seasons.
Barford, Macon and Cook -- junior-college transfers -- and Thomas -- a transfer from Colorado -- have helped the Razorbacks go 46-19 in their two seasons.
"It'll probably hit me right as I get ready to go out before they start that these guys came to play for this guy, this coach, and they left everything out on the floor each and every night," Anderson said. "Some nights we were disappointed. A lot of nights we went home happy.
"But through it all, these guys will be a part of my family for the rest of their lives, and they know that if there's anything that we can do for them, we're here for them. They'll be Razorbacks forever."
Macon said his time playing for Arkansas has flown by.
"I really hate that it's going to be my last home game," he said. "I wish I had a couple more years. It's coming to an end too fast."
Thompson, who is from Madison and played at Forrest City, said four seasons at Arkansas were gone too soon.
"It seems like just yesterday I was walking in here as a freshman seeing those seniors come off the court, so now it's my turn," Thompson said. "So it's a lot of emotions."
The seniors got to know each better on a summer trip to Spain for exhibition games before last season.
"While I've known these guys for two years, I feel like I've known them for years because we spend so much time together," Barford said. "We did a lot of off-court activities together.
"It's been good grinding, doing conditioning with them. We built a brother bond. I'm going to miss these guys."
Senior night is just part of the story line for tonight's game.
Arkansas (20-9, 9-7) is looking to continue improving its NCAA Tournament resume after winning five of its past six games. Auburn (24-5, 12-4) is looking to win its third SEC regular-season title and first since 1999.
"I don't think anybody wants another team celebrating their title on your home floor," Macon said. "Hopefully, we can stay together as a team and just play like we've been playing.
"I think it's going to be electrifying. A good crowd. We're just going to come out and try to put on a show like we always do."
The Tigers understand what the atmosphere will be like.
"I definitely know it's going to be a grind," Auburn junior guard Bryce Brown said. "We'll have to fight from the beginning of the first half to the end of the second half.
"It's going to be a tight game. It's not going to be one of those blowout games, because it's a lot on the line for them and a lot on the line for us."
The Tigers beat the Razorbacks 88-77 at Auburn Arena in the teams' first meeting Jan. 6. They led by as many as 21 points.
"We need to play a lot harder," Macon said. "That first game at Auburn, we didn't play hard at all. We actually laid down and let them treat us like boys. I don't think that's going to happen this time."
The Razorbacks were ranked No. 22 going into the Auburn game, but they dropped out of The Associated Press poll the next week. They haven't been ranked since that loss.
"This game is pretty personal because they beat us at their place," Barford said. "We know Bud Walton is going to be rocking, so we have to come with a show, come with our hard hats and just be ready to play against those guys."
Anderson said both teams should be motivated.
"We want to protect the home court," Anderson said. "We want to get better. We want to continue to play good basketball going down this stretch. It's a big game. I'm sure for them it's a big game as well. They're in position to win a championship.
"It's a team we played earlier in the year, and they won on their home court. So we want to make sure we take care of business on our court."
Macon said tonight's game is more than about payback or beating a ranked team.
"It's your last game in Bud Walton," he said. "You don't want to go out on a loss. You want to go out with a bang your last time playing in this arena."
Sports on 02/27/2018